Such munitions, also referred to hereinafter as scatterable charges, are intended to be thrown randomly onto the ground from a release point situated at a certain distance above the ground. The munitions then fall on the ground where they roll and bounce, . . . , and eventually come to rest. They may comprise mines that are put into an active position, i.e. that are armed from the pyrotechnical point of view, after they have impacted the ground. Although the following description refers to a preferred application in which a zone is mined, this application is not limiting and the invention is applicable to scattering other types of munition.
Scattering supposes that a plurality of charges are carried together by a launch vector, and are then thrown out or released simultaneously.
It is generally desirable to group the charges in a mining zone which is both accurately localized and narrow, especially in depth. To do this, it is necessary for the different charges to be released at time intervals which are short as possible, thereby ensuring that the origins of their various individual trajectories are as close as possible (ideally the origins would all be at a single point for charges that are released simultaneously). It is also necessary for the ballistic characteristics (modulus and direction of the velocity vector) of each charge to present as little scatter (in the statistical sense) as possible. It is the dispersion of these characteristics that determines the narrowness of the zone which is mined. Further, it is absolutely essential to avoid any collisions between the mines at the moment of simultaneous scattering. The closer one tries to group the mines, the more difficult it is to satisfy this essential condition. Very close control must therefore be provided over the differential speeds of the mines.
Known devices having a oontainer from which the chores are ejected successively do not satisfy all these criteria, even if the total time taken for all successive ejections is very short. The same is true when the charges are released from a container because of the time taken to open the container and to extract the munitions, and this time can prejudice the accuracy and the reproducibility of a shot.
West German patent publication No. 2,607,336, for example, describes such a projectile in which the individual munitions are housed and maintained by an outer casing or "skin" formed by two half shells whioh are hinged to one another and which constitute the body of the projectile per se. Other containers for scatterable munitions are also described in West German patent publication No.2,340,653 (corresponding to U.S. Pat. No. 3,818,833) and in French patent publication No. 2,140,693.
One of the aims of the present invention is to provide a projectile whose charge is so disposed that scattering takes place in an entirely reproducible manner without requiring a container or casing.
Further, good reproducibility requires low altitude scattering to reduce the influence of parameters linked to the munitions own ballistics; the munitions should have just enough time to move away from one another before hitting the ground. Further, in addition to having a low altitude scattering point, it is desirable for the speed to be high enough and only slightly inclined relative to the horizontal.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention provide highly accurate control both in time and in space and are compatible with low altitude scattering at high speed. To this end the invention provides a new organization for the payload which avoids the drawbacks encountered with scatterable munitions carried by a container.